CBI invites research proposals to advance lead battery tech in energy storage

18th March 2020 By: Marleny Arnoldi - Deputy Editor Online

The Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) has, for the first time, launched a  request for research proposals to support battery technology innovation in energy storage systems.

The consortium is seeking research bids focused on facilitating the latest understanding in energy storage applications, such as microgrids for renewable energy, load following for electrical grids and demand response for commercial and industrial applications.

The International Renewable Energy Agency predicts that 150 GW of energy storage using batteries will be needed by 2030 if renewable energy targets are to be reached.

“As demand for battery energy storage continues to grow and the demand for flexible and cleaner sources of energy to supply energy to the grid increases, battery technologies have been recognised as a cornerstone in achieving sustainable decarbonisation and electrification goals,” says the CBI.

“We have made great progress in the last year with our rolling research programme, so we are opening up the opportunity for universities, companies and other research institutes to submit proposals for a new wave of research projects.

“We know that demand for battery-supported energy storage is growing exponentially and innovation in our technology needs to keep pace with this growth,” notes CBI technical programme manager Dr Matthew Raiford.

The CBI last year launched a technical innovation roadmap, which set out the highest research priorities for the next five years into continuing innovation in lead batteries.

The roadmap highlighted the research priority goal of increasing the cycle life of lead batteries for energy storage applications by five times to 5 000 by 2022 – which is a key technical parameter for renewable and utility energy applications.

“As a newer application for lead batteries, research into field and laboratory tests for energy storage systems is essential to gain deeper insights into understanding total energy throughput and increasing service life and performance.

“While demand for clean, reliable battery energy storage continues to grow, this demand cannot be met by one technology alone. Fundamental research into lead batteries will be vital in exploiting the untapped potential of this technology to deliver on the global transition to a sustainable energy system,” says Raiford.